Introducing Apt #34 Feature Sponsor - Palazzo {And a Giveaway!}

Apartment #34 is thrilled to welcome it's first feature sponsor - Palazzo.



The online boutique has a fantastic array of home decor, textiles, dishes, cards, decor books and luxury bath items inspired by or imported from Europe. Here is just a tiny sampling of my favorites.




And of course my personal weakness - gorgeous wrapping paper. I'm going to be stocked for all of the weddings I'm attending this year!



The Palazzo Giveaway

Palazzo is also generously offering Apt #34 readers a giveaway  - a divine smelling Seda France Classic Toile Pagoda Candle! 


Visit Palazzo and add yourself to their mailing list and then leave me a comment below. A winner will be chosen at random on Friday. 

Thanks to Palazzo for their support of Apt #34.  And happy shopping!

Distressed Black + White

This hauntingly beautiful image of a time-worn building from floto+warner immediately reminded me of this elegant bedroom discovered via {this is glamorous}...

The simple intensity of the black on cold white, the torn walls and decaying building. They mirror each other perfectly, don't you think?

What to Wear: Wedding Season

So, the boy and I were looking at our calendars this week and realized we're averaging a wedding a month from May through August, which means somebody is gonna be on the lookout for some cuh-UTE wedding attire!

Yes, true, I have lots of dresses in my closet that are still waiting to be worn, but a girl can dream, right? I think I'll start with this one...

Ok, so there's a chance I may drown in a sea of blue ruffles, I still love it. Need more convincing?

It's not only sweet, but also sassy. Two requirements for me - done and done. Plus, one of the weddings is on a blueberry farm... hmmm...

*check out more fabulous dresses at the sunday brunch dress shop found via apt# 34

Lester and Xueying Wedding Photos

Wedding Photos

Lester and Xueying wedding photos. Special wedding gown for happy couple.

Happy Couple with Special Wedding Gown Photos

wedding gown

wedding gown

Happy couple with special wedding gown photos

Wedding Gown Accessories of Lester and Xueying Wedding Photos

Wedding Gown Accessories

Wedding gown accessories of Lester and Xueying wedding photos

It's My Party!

Dearies - I can't believe it. Life has been so busy that I missed the first birthday of this little blog!
 

photo by emma lee via simplesong

A year ago last week I made my very first post here - I love that I can look back and see how the blog has captured all that I've experienced since. It certainly has flown by. I wish I could have you all over and share some sweet treats with me!

Be sure to come back later today to meet Apt #34's first feature sponsor - a fitting birthday present, don't you agree.

Style (E)scapes Winner!

Eeeps! I got caught up in bunches of work today and never had time to post the winner for the style (e)scapes giveaway!

Drumroll please....

The winner of some fabulously awesome items including a personalized notepad, choice of suh-weeeet pencils (notice mine on my desk??) and a super chic pair of bamboo handled letter opener....

Royal Apothic!

Thank you all for your incredibly helpful comments. You can bet that upcoming series will include bathrooms, closets, and some spring tabletops and patios.

Seeing Pink

I thought I'd share some bubble-icious fantasy images to sweeten your Monday afternoon.




Something about pink always makes me smile. My new blog crush Rockstar Diaries, where I stumbled on those adorable umbrella images, does too. Be sure to check her out - rockstar indeed!

From The Office Of: coco+kelley

Well, my dears, the sun did not come out today, but I took photos anyway because I just couldn't make you wait any longer! (For the record, yesterday was absolutely gorgeous, but because my office only gets morning sunshine, by the time I got around to it, it was still too dark! Frustrating!)

Let's start this off with a little interior designer insight. Sometimes, you get to create a space starting from scratch, which is always awesome. Other times - you gotta work with what your mama gave you. In this case - literally. I mentioned before that my 'office' is a spare bedroom in my parent's house. The furniture was already in there (and they were not going to be putting any of it in storage on my account thank you very much). The paint color is a bit dark - perfectly warm for a bedroom, but not so much for an office. The carpet is old. The windows still need curtains. The list goes on.

SO, what's a designer to do? Work with it.
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Ta da! Not what you expected is it? The desk, files, and bookshelf (not pictured) were already in here. As was the little sofa. The only larger pieces in here that are mine are the rug (Cost Plus), the chair (vintage), and the lamp (Target base, Anthropologie shade). The rest of if it is lots of little details that I've brought in.

Let's start with the inspiration, shall we?

The postcard on the left is where I wanted to go with my color palette - blues and peachy corals (mostly with accessories) mixed with sandy khaki, grey and dark brown.

I certainly got my pops of blue in there with the bowl on the left (from Anthropologie) to hold ribbons, tags, and other miscellany, and the notepad on the right which arrived as a gift last week just in time to make the deskcape complete! As you can see, I've got my lucite (file holder from the container store) and my metallics (vintage pen holder).

My little brass birdie is via ebay, my favorite Maura Peters candle in Vanilla Grapefruit (so delicious), and the vintage tray I found thrifting (it barely has its gold edging left, but you can kinda see it in the photo).

The other little birdie sits next to my plant on the windowsill. Next to the desk, I covered the file folder with a zebra fabric, and topped it with a small basket to hold my mail, a clear vase to hold my paint book, and a candle holder for my pencils. Talk about repurposing!

Next to the file drawers is this bookshelf (which will be repainted as soon as humanly possible). It stashes my stacks of magazines, some goodies from my Etsy store (which will be replenished very soon!) and my little 'bar' - for coffee of course.

And then there's the inspiration board - still in a state of flux at them moment a I add new ideas for spring to old ideas I can't get rid of. I usually put up my favorite fashion and rooms to see where my color trends are going - right now I'm really loving olive green with peach and pink tones.

In my dreams, I'd replace the schoolhouse desk with a larger farm table style, replace the metal file drawer with something more attractive, paint the bookshelf in a creamy white, and add some window treatments in the coral/peach tone to add some life and pop to the space! But, hopefully this makeshift bedroom won't be my office for long - ideally I'd love to have my own space to run my small business out of, and when that day comes... all sorts of dreams will be coming true!

Hope you all enjoyed my little space! I'll have more photos up on flickr later today so you can see all the details and more views of the office too.

Monday, Monday...

It's tough work being glamorous.

...Office photos are coming, but the clouds just aren't lifting here in Seattle today. My weekend went much too quickly, and I'm up to my ears in emails that weren't returned last week during the hectic blog schedule. Be patient my dears...

*photography by chris blott

Uber-Cool

I've always loved old apothecary chests and card catalogs or the like. This is by far the coolest use I've seen of one yet!


Grace, founder of Poetic Home, knows how to do something amazing things with vintage finds and she put this beautiful card catalog to use as a makeshift bookshelf. Loving it! 


Here are some other great pieces from Poetic Home.  How amazing is that lamp and the old school-room chairs (I have one of my very own from the Restore in Seattle - if you live nearby and haven't been yet, go now!) Those fans are also making me swoon. 

I think the right shot of vintage pumps interest into any room. Grace has inspired me to do some serious scouring of ebay and etsy. Are you a serious vintage shopper?




What to Wear to Sunday Brunch

Nothing is better on Sunday morning that good food and a good mimosa among friends. If you're having trouble finding that perfect dress look no further. The brilliant online boutique Sunday Brunch has you covered.



Their perfectly edited site has all the best pieces from Lorick, Heidi Merrick, and Kloset and I adore their ethos - slow down and dress up! They make it easy like Sunday morning. 

Happy Sunday all!

Good News + Bad News

Well, friends, I have good news and bad news for you. The good news is that I completely forgot to draw for the Celerie Kemble book yesterday, and we have two winners!!! Congratulations to Jill whose comment was "My favorite design book that continually provides inspiration when my well has gone dry is Parish Hadley: 60 Years of American Design," and Polka Dot Bride whose favorite was Tutu by Greg Barrett. It has the most amazing photography - black and white of dancers.

(since some of you requested that the next style (e)scapes be on patios, i thought i'd get a start on it now with this celerie kemble design...)

And, now for the bad news...
vogue italia
I'm sitting here pouting at my desk because it's a horribly gloomy day here in Seattle and since I don't exactly have a professional photographer on hand to take some quality shots of my office... the big reveal will have to wait for Monday! Let's all cross our fingers for a little sunshine this weekend. I'm so sorry for the delay, but that just means the space will be even better! Thanks for being patient.

In the meantime, don't forget to enter the giveaway from this week for a bundle of chic desk accessories! The winner will be revealed along with my office space.

Have a FANTASTIC weekend! I have a feeling some of you will be doing a little deskscaping of your own...

From The Office Of: Apt #34

I have to confess that I think I got my office obsession from two people, one of them being my bff Erin over at Apt #34 (the other being a recent client whose little study just got a mini revamp - still waiting for the final photos!!)

Between her desklust and home office inspirations there are enough ideas on her little blog to inspire any style, so when you're done here, pop over to her blog via those links and see what I mean! Today she's keeping her adivice short and sweet (perfect for a Friday and in true Erin style...)
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I have long suffered from serious office lust – I mean you sit in one place for hours and hours out of your day and years out of your life – it better be a pretty damn fine place to sit. Unfortunately, I’ve attain to an office that I deem worthy of sharing, so I set out to collect my ideal office elements.

In light of today's challenging economic times I’m limiting my must-haves to three:

*1. Desk chair *2. Rockin' lighting *2. Killer inspiration wall

These are just a smattering of some of my favorites.

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Thanks E! I had to add one more space from her blog that's one of my favorites from m. design, as well as my current favorite inspiration board - because I don't think it get's much better than a board with a bar!!

Weekend Style (e) Scapes

This week has been a crazy one for me, but madame Cassandra seems to have put even more work into her style (e)scapes series on deskscapes. Today I shared a few of my favorite office-elements on coco+kelley that I will implement when I get my corner office with the great view...

For now, I will focus on a view that looks like this.


Next week I will return relaxed (hopefully) and ready to share more great fashion, a new twist on a "destination" wedding, some great vintage finds and a profile of Apt #34's first feature sponsor!

In the meantime, happy weekend my dears!


From The Office Of: Maison Luxe

If you've been hangin' around coco+kelley long enough, you might recall that when I moved back to Seattle to start my own interior design+events+styling company, I also happened to pick up a little gig at Maison Luxe - a fantastically gorgeous shop owned by the seriously amazing Kelie Grosso (yes, I love it and her that much).

Recently, we relocated the shop to a smaller, cozier space, up on the second floor of a historic building in Pioneer Square with the most insanely fabulous windows. So, on top of my own home office, I now have a little space at Maison Luxe to call my own, and guess what? It was the perfect space for my inspiration board to come to life.
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Obviously, the space is Kelie's, so all the furniture is her own - the desk and file drawers are from Ikea, and the rest of it are pieces available through the store. I adore the caneback chairs!

I styled up the desk the way I'd have it for my own workspace - don't you just love the amount of light coming in? And this was on a rainy day!

Let's talk resources - the cork pencil holder is vintage, found via Etsy. The brass candleholders, the small white bowl and the silver pot are are thrift store items (!), the teacup is my one and only Hermes Balcon Du Guadalquivir. (*sigh*). The birdbath, yellow vase and chrome stapler all belong to Maison Luxe.

Another overall shot of the workspace - you can see my favorite Voluspa candle in Crisp Champagne (on top of the Hermes box) and my absolutely necessary desktop calendar. We stash tons of cards (just like Melissa!) for thank you notes in a clear vase. No fresh flowers today, which is why I always like to have a plant for some permanent green!

In the corner, we've got plenty of storage for little things, and one of the most important pieces - the ipod station! Also, Kelie's ode to Paris and her sweet little birdie dish from Anthropologie.

Behind the desk is a little area for files, the phone, boxes and shelving to store our product binders, wrapping paper, and more office goodies. (The Hermes ashtray is Kelie's - can you tell we have similar taste?)

Finally, just a peek at the rest of the space. The Ikea bookshelf separates the 'office' area from the rest of the shop. We have lots to do still before it's full, but we're getting there!
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For more photos (I couldn't stop myself from taking about a million) check out the flickr album again! Later today - the BIG REVEAL of my home office. Are you curious how it turned out? I'll give you a hint. Since this office was a better setting for my inspiration board, my home office is nothing like what you'll expect!